On our Way to Bethel Church!
Dear Unified … family,
Kerry and I just arrived in San Francisco connecting to our plane to Redding, CA. I opened my email and enjoyed reading Carol K.’s testimony. Way to go Carol! I love your spirit. Oh, don’t forget to register for Larry Randolph on May 11-12. It is just a few weeks away. I do plan to close registration, so don’t delay.
Blessings,
Pastors Dean and Kerry
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On my way home tonight, I asked God to highlight someone who needed prayer. I hadn’t prayed for any strangers over the last three days except a 15 second prayer for our security guard at work.
I went to Long’s Hawaii, and met “Gary B”, who used to work in my office over 30 years ago. I’ve seen him maybe three times since then. Tonight, he related how he has a medical condition, retroiperitoneal fibrosis, that led to one of his kidneys failing, and the other one having problems with excess protein in his urine. (I looked up the condition when I came home, and it’s a serious medical problem that can lead to kidney failure.)
Gary is a very friendly, humorous, and open person, and I asked him if I could pray for him. Just my asking touched his heart, and he was grateful. As I prayed, I felt the Holy Spirit sort of zap into his kidney. After about a minute, I asked if he felt that, and he said, “Yes, I feel a vibration.”
I said, “That was the Holy Spirit!” We talked some more, I prayed again, and then I asked if he had accepted Jesus as His savior. (Avy, if you hadn’t brought that up with Melissa on Monday night, I wouldn’t have thought of asking Gary the same thing!)
Gary said he had accepted Jesus a long time ago, but maybe he had “lost it”. I told him how the father rejoiced when his prodigal returned home, and how Jesus would rejoice the same way if Gary accepted Jesus again. I actually led him in a prayer about believing in Jesus as the son of God, Jesus’ death to save us from sin, and His resurrection to give us life. (This was my first time I led anyone in that kind of prayer, but Gary was already a Christian, albeit lukewarm and maybe fallen off the path.)
He seemed quite interested in learning more, and I encouraged him to visit our church one Sunday. Too bad I didn’t have a card for the Monday night healing service because he seemed interested in that too. He said he’d visit me at work with the doctor’s report if the test in two months showed a drop in his protein count.
Mike– I think Gary might be interested in the senior citizens group when it gets underway at our church. I’ll invite him.
Gary said I had changed (I said, yeah, I got older), and he said, with a laugh, that I “wasn’t as mean” to him (he was half-joking but half-serious), and that I looked “radiant”. That was a nice topping to an already very nice meeting with Gary. In fact, Gary said, he felt that was the reason he came to Long’s– to meet me! And he said it was a nice end to a very good day, which included finding his lost key at Costco.
I was uplifted by Gary being touched by the Holy Spirit, and by Gary’s interest and thankfulnesss. It was all so good!
Carol
My Strategic/Ideation/Activator Maximizer/Adaptability Gift!
Dear Unified … family,
Recently I took an online test recommended by Danny Silk which identified my top 5 strengths. It was called “Strength Finders 2.0.” The test identified my strengths as strategic, ideation, activator, maximizer, and adaptability. In simple terms, “I am a person who strategically thinks of ideas to either start things or to improve on what is already there. I guess the Lord knew that I also needed “adaptability” to keep in balance and temper the other four gifts. He also had to give me a redemptive mercy gift and put me on servant land to fully express my God given design. Why an I sharing all this? It really have to do with a suggestion I have for our Unified … families which I have been thinking about.
Here goes …
I realize that many of our couples because of the busyness in raising a family or the lack of family support are not able to have regular dates nights with their significant other. The more kids and the younger the kids, the harder it gets. I want to propose an idea which may help.
1) Families partner with other families to share in the responsibility of caring for each other’s children to provide time for a date night. I think it should be a shared thing because our culture is so strongly tied to shame and obligation that it can become less than productive if there is only receiving from one couple and not contributing to others.
a) I would suggest getting to together with a few couples in your area where you live and work something out to share the load of watching each others kids. Details can be worked out between the couples.
2) Secondly, I am looking to implement date nights where the church can provide a “quarterly” night out for couples. The church would have an activity where kids could be dropped off so couples can plan to go out with other couples and get to meet people within our fellowship. This could serve to strengthen the Unified … family bond between the individual families.
Saying this, I feel the second option would work best if it is being first implemented in each home.
I am open to suggestions and feedback. Let me know what you think. But please keep it short as I may have plenty to read. Love you all!
Blessings,
Pastor Dean (and Kerry)
Gene’s Surgery was a Success! Please continue to pray!
Dear Unified … family,
I was just informed by Pastor John that Gene Fujii’s surgery was a complete success. He had a quadruple bypass. He is out of recovery and in the ICU resting. Marie thanks everyone for your prayers.
Give Jesus a praise but don’t let your guard down yet. Stay vigilant and continue to pray for no complications or infections. We want a speedy and miraculous recovery for Gene.
Blessings,
Pastor Dean